Devi Shetty-promoted Narayana Health (formerly known as Narayana Hrudayalaya) has acquired Westbank Hospital in Howrah, West Bengal, for Rs 150 crore ($24.27 million), the company said in a release.

This is the second acquisition by Narayana Health Group in West Bengal this year after it acquired Jubilant’s hospital business in Barasat & Berhampore in March.

The acquisition of Westbank Hospital includes the management of the 150 bed Westbank Hospital Unit-I and 240 bed Westbank Hospital Unit-II, in Howrah. Post this, Narayana Health will offer comprehensive cancer care facilities at Westbank, in addition to the upgrade of the other tertiary care specialties there.

Bangalore-based Narayana Health, which operates a chain of multispecialty and super specialty hospitals in the country, started with a 300-bed hospital in 2001. It had already been managing the Cardiac Centre at Westbank Unit-II since 2012. With this addition, the Narayana Health network has grown to 29 hospitals across 17 cities in India with a combined bed strength of around 7,500.

“In addition to retaining the current employee strength of close to 700, we will strategically strengthen it further,” said Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, vice-chairman, MD & Group CEO, Narayana Health.

“The acquisition of Westbank Hospitals will create a new benchmark for medical care in this region. It’s our ongoing endeavour to make the state a leading tertiary healthcare hub, to address the growing medical needs of people in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, North-East states and even neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh," he said.

Allegro Corporate Finance Advisors acted as the sole financial advisor to Narayana Health on this acquisition.